French news channel suspends anchor for running planted stories at behest of Israeli disinformation unit
Rachid M'Barki and his wife Marianne Soubret
France's leading TV news channel has suspended one of its most senior journalists who is accused of planting multiple stories on his show at the behest of an Israeli disinformation unit.Rachid M’Barki, an anchor at BFMTV since its launch in 2005, was suspended last month even as an internal inquiry into multiple stories broadcast on his show, Le journal de la nuit, is underway.
Though he was suspended in January, no reason was given at that time. The reason came to the fore following an investigation by Le Monde newspaper in association with the campaigning organisation called Forbidden Stories.
It was revealed that a member of Israeli disinformation unit “Team Jorge” suggested to undercover reporters that the group was secretly behind a BFMTV news report about the Monaco yachting industry.
The report covered that the sanctions imposed against Russian oligarchs were damaging the yachting industry in the Mediterranean principality.
Not only that, M'Barki is said to have ran reports on various subjects on a Sudanese opposition leader, allegations of corruption in Qatar. It was later revealed that these were planted by the Israel-based outfit specialising in 'news for hire'.
M'Barki has denied being paid to plant the stories, but he admitted to bypassing BFM's editorial checks.
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He claimed that he was offered the reports by an intermediary and exercised his own professional judgment in selecting to use them, reports BBC.
According to Le Monde and Forbidden Stories, “Team Jorge” is one of the leading players of disinformation mercenaries, who for a price will use the internet to damage an enemy's reputation or influence an election.
To know more about Team Jorge, three journalists from the Forbidden Stories consortium presented themselves as potential clients seeking to shape opinion in French-speaking Africa on behalf of a major multinational.
After a lengthy negotiation, they finally arranged a face-to-face meeting and got what amounted to a sales pitch.
(With inputs from agencies)
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